An online community group says it has collected more than 135,000 signatures to demand that Nestlé discontinue water bottling operations in this state under the Arrowhead and Pure Life brands.

If Nestlé, which operates three of five statewide water bottling operations in Southern California, does not shut down, the group, called Courage Campaign, wants the State Water Resources Control Board to step in and close the bottling operations.

“Taking the groundwater, packaging it and selling it is not a good use of water,” said Eddie Kurtz, executive director of the Courage Campaign.

“It’s time that Nestlé did the right thing and put people over profits by immediately halting their water bottling operations in Cabazon and across the state,” Kurtz said.

Nestlé Water Ltd. has 1,700 employees in California and in addition to Cabazon, has bottling plants in Ontario, Los Angeles, Livermore and Sacramento, spokeswoman Jane Lazgin said.

The water used by the two brands in California in a year is equivalent to the amount used by two average California golf courses annually, she said.

“This is less than a fraction of a percent of the state’s water use,” she said.

For more than 120 years, the Arrowhead bottled water brand has been fueled by spring water from the San Bernardino Mountains and other springs around the state, Lazgin said.

“Those springs are professionally managed by geologists, so they will last a long time,” Lazgin said.

Kurtz said that the groundwater Nestlé is selling is like tapping “a savings account that has built up over thousands of years,” adding that California needs to “lead the way” to stop a frivolous use of water during this time of drought.

“Any other form of liquid, like soda or beer, would require more water to produce,” Lazgin said. “And it would be less healthy, because of calories,” she said.

“Everybody can do better,” Lazgin said on the topic of water conservation. “We have a shared concern and are looking to further ways to conserve.”

But the petition-gathering exercise is a stepping-stone to a more ambitious, unspecified grass-roots campaign to be announced later, he said.

The State Water Resources Control Board does not regulate water bottling operations, a spokesman said.

“It’s important to note bottled water is an important drought-relief tool being used to quickly solve distressed water supply issues unrelated to the production of the bottled water in another area,” said Tim Moran, spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board.